Thursday, October 31, 2013

Must everyone be an "expert" on PPACA?

I'm betting some of the "experts" out there don't even know what PPACA stands for and initially have no idea what this post is about.
I shall tell you - it's all about the oh-so-many of folks out there that are now experts on "Obamacare" and health insurance in general.
I worked in the healthcare industry for 18 years. I know about health insurance. I have managed two small businesses, I know about group insurance premiums. I have an individual health plan, I know about individual health plans. I know what an HSA is, I know how a FSA works and I know many of the rules surrounding both and I bet most of you don't.

I know that the commercial on television that is either republican or tea party based that talks about how this woman doesn't want her children to just be a number in the government's system is stupid. Duh - we are ALL numbers in the "government's system" - have you never heard of social security numbers?
I wonder if the people so vehemently against "government run" health insurance have ever heard of Medicare. The government has been managing the healthcare of some of our most frail since the '60s folks. It's not perfect but its' fundamental idea is pretty good.

I think it's quite ironic that some of the folks posting hate for our president and hate for this plan are some of the most "christian" people I know. I think it's strange that I have stood elbow to elbow serving hot meals to folks in need or have seen the posts or pics of folks helping at the food bank from some of the people most against helping to equalize access to healthcare in the country. So you can give of your time and give sweat equity but you'd rather keep every penny for yourself and leave someone who dare not have insurance bleed and/or die in the street.

See - that's essentially what you're saying. That folks that don't (for the dozens [hundreds?] of reasons why they may not) have health insurance they should not receive health care. Because if they can't pay for it, and no one else should be expected to contribute to the assistance of others, then we should let them bleed to death or suffer the pains of terminal cancer or blah, blah, blah.

Of course, the alternative is to allow them (under our good graces as human-folk) to receive necessary, emergent medical care only (EMTALA) and then let them go bankrupt trying to pay the bills...because that is the monster that has become healthcare in this country. Is it your fault? No. It's not mine either. And it's not the fault of the folks who aren't lucky enough to be able to afford health insurance. See that's the thing people: too much of life is a crap-shoot and we shouldn't stand by and allow others to suffer an injustice of the world and of our society that has been in the works long before we got here. We should try to be heroes for those coming after. That at least we tried to fix things, at least we tried to care for others, we tried to make it better.

I believe people's health premiums are going up (but: they've been going up; year after year for many years), I believe nonsense plans are dropping coverage for people. This is NOT the president's fault. This is not the government's fault. Are you blaming the government after a catastrophic claim against your homeowners or car insurance totally jacks up your premium or causes you to get dropped? Of course not...because that would be silly, right? Don't you see the correlation? Part of your current car insurance is for un and under-insured drivers, right? You're paying to cover an accident caused by someone who can't (or won't - there are those) buy auto-insurance. Is that the president's fault? Nope. Does it protect you in the end? Of course. As does spreading out the cost of health coverage for the many, to the many - protects us all.

In the end it's about equalizing the cost and access of healthcare for all. In some time, as things shake out, healthcare costs: from an x-ray to an insurance premium should come down...but too many people are focused on their hate of a president or a political party or whatever else to see the forest through the trees. Instead folks spread hate and ignorance via FaceBook memes and Fox News quotes and anything that fits EXACTLY how they do or think they should feel...in alignment with their neighbors or their political party or their spouses or whatever else.

I don't believe that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is perfect. I'm not even that big of a fan of Obama in general. But I'm educated in this arena. I can't discuss or debate this with many people because people are SO hot about their hatred of PPACA and/or the president and/or democrats and/or the government as a whole (hell - no one likes the government except the government themselves, right? But we should be better...) that it's like folks can't see or think straight. It's weird to me.

So - if you can't discuss or debate this like a normal person and you don't want to actually learn true pros and cons of PPACA (it actually does have some good ideas rolling around in there!) then can you please just kindly keep your "expertise" on the matter to yourself? Stop sharing posts that are baseless (or are based in hate or ignorance). And if you're actually interested in learning about PPACA and/or discussing its' good and bad: let me know. I refuse to discuss such things on FB or via email or text but I am a calm and patient person and I actually know how to discuss and debate in person without fighting or swearing or losing a friend: I do.

In the end, you may still not believe in PPACA and that's ok but, if you can get beyond the hype, I truly believe a lot more people out there would at least begin to appreciate the underlying idea and at least lose some of the hate strangling their hearts. Life is too short to be so hostile about this.

Thanks for your time.
'Nighty-'night.

2 comments:

Watson said...

Excellent commentary! Thank you!

Robo said...

We're all numbers regarding social security, but our mdical privacy and needs require the intimate one-on-one relationship one expects in a doctor-patient relationship. It's a relationship they even developed a legal confidentiality privilege to protect.

So an ad about a mother caring neough about her kids to worry about the loss of that privacy and intimacy is worth something to people who love liberty.

And maybe that means some of us have been in the health insurance profession too long to appreciate families and their ties to the medical care profession